Astrospheric FAQs

Astrospheric provides advanced weather tools for astronomers in the continental US and Canada. Here are the most frequently asked questions by the community

Can I send in feedback?
Yes, please use the in-app contact tool to get in touch. I don't respond to all feedback, but I do read it.

Why doesn't Astrospheric work on my (insert Android device)
Android requirements are as follows Without these basic tests in place, over 90% of my development time fielding Android issues.

*Please note that we officially support the latest production Android version. More information on official support can be found here.

Where does Astrospheric get its data from?
The bulk of the data shown on Astrospheric comes from the Canadian Meteorological Center (CMC). Other data sources include the GFS model as well as the experimental RAP model which provide values such as Smoke and Aerosol optical depth. The Seeing model is pulled from Allan Rahill's model (which is based off of the CMCs model). I'm constantly investigating other weather models for interesting variables to help improve the overall forecast on Astrospheric.

How is Astrospheric different from Atilla Danko's "Clear Sky Charts" service?
Users tend to think that because the primary data source is the same between Clear Sky Charts and Astrospheric that they give the same results, which isn't accurate. Here are a few big differences. There are many other functional differences between the services. Clear Sky Chart is obviously still a valuable resource and some users may prefer it given Astrospheric's higher system and bandwidth requirements.

Why doesn't Astrospheric update more frequently?

Below are the models and their update frequencies. Astrospheric updates as often as these models produce data except for the RAP. Technically the RAP updates hourly, however it only produces an extended forecast every 6 hours.

Model Update Frequency
RDPS 6 hours
GFS 6 hours
NAM 6 hours
RAP 6 hours
NBM 1 hour

Are there plans to make Astrospheric work outside of the continental US and Canada?
Not at this time. Processing quality worldwide data to build accurate astronomy variables is prohibitively expensive. We welcome other developers and studios to fill the gap in weather forecasting beyond Astrospheric's domain.

Will Apple's purchase and shut down of the Dark Sky APIs impact Astrospheric?
No. Astrospheric process raw weather model data on its own servers instead of repackaging other company's weather APIs. However, astronomers using apps such as Clear Outside or the thousands of other weather apps that use these APIs may notice changes as those app developers find new and cheaper sources for their data.

What other weather data sources are valuable to astronomers?
There are thousands of weather apps and websites available, but it can be tough to know if they will work well for astronomy. Here are a few tips that can help in picking them out. Weather.gov is a great resource for those in the USA since it gets you access to the primary US weather models (GFS, NAM, HRRR, etc). If you're feeling adventurous, you can access raw model data at https://nomads.ncep.noaa.gov/

Should I send feedback when the weather report is wrong?
Short answer - no. Every 6 hours the Candian RDPS model generate well over 200 million predictions for an area covering most of North America. It will be wrong at times. Even the Cloud Ensemble will be wrong at times. The model is constantly ingesting new data from thousands of automated sources in order to correct and generate the next set of predictions. Observations from individuals are not incorporated into the model and therefore would be a waste of time to send. However, if you notice something completely out of the ordinary (eg. a dew point of absolute zero), then it's worth letting me know, because an error may have occured in my code which parses the data.

Can rain and other precipitation be added to the forecast?
Technically yes, but precipitation data won't be added to Astrospheric. We are focused on Astronomy variables and adding precipitation adds a dramatic amount of UI.

Why is the time shown in Astrospheric wrong?
Astrospheric shows the local time for the current forecast location. This includes any adjustments for timezone and daylight savings time. If you notice that the time is an hour off, please first check that your device's operating system timezone is set correctly. If it is set correctly, then please contact me using the in-app contact tool.

Can I embed Astrospheric on my website?
Most likely. Check out www.astrospheric.com/embed for more information and the rules for using it.

How can I support Astrospheric?

Is there a French version of Astrospheric?
Not yet, but I'm working on it!